Dottie Hottie

When you buy flowers, how long do you hope they’ll last?

A few days? Maybe a week if you’re lucky?

Well the Dottie Hottie sits here at her perch in Dot, beholding the flower bouquet she purchased at Cedar Grove Gardens, with the kind assistance of floral genius Janet, and this bouquet is still verdant and quite lovely a whole THREE WEEKS LATER!!!

Alert Michael Pollan.
Tell Martha.
And Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, does she know about these plucky blooms that grow?

LOVE these spider mums!

Thanks, CGG!

The Dottie Hottie has had such fun nominating all the favorite Dorchester businesses in the Boston Phoenix’s annual poll on Boston’s Best of…

Newbury St. and the South End shouldn’t have all the fun and notoriety in retail/restaurant land.

Cast your vote and don’t forget to give props to Dot where they are due!

The Dottie Hottie witnessed a hit-and-run this past weekend. In a word, the whole maneuver was BALLSY. Noon-thirty on a Sunday. People were coming back from church, going to see grandma, thinking about chicken dinners. Then BAM! The offending car set off an alarm, paused to inspect that indeed the damage probably exceeded his insurance premium, and cruised toward Dorchester Avenue.

Dorchester Avenue. On a Sunday afternoon. COME. ON! Did you not think the Dottie Hottie would be scribbling down your plate? Alerting the authorities? Making no dull racket?

While Boston’s finest work to apprehend this cowardly conductor, the Dottie Hottie sends condolences to the victim of this cowardly act. Hope that broken axel gets fixed post-haste.

***

Had take-out from Mrs. Jones on Satureve. Lickity splits, that fried chicken gets better and better. Still waiting for them to post their menu online. What say you, Mrs. Jones, to a little more love on the interweb?

***

Ran into Sam Yoon the day post-election. He offered the Dottie Hottie a heartfelt hug. He seemed somber but was kind as ever. Said it once and I’ll say it again, I love me some Yooooon.

The Dottie Hottie is feeling a bit on the fence about his pairing with Flaherty for November’s race. It’s a strategic coupling, but here at DH headquarters, we’re just a little dubious about Southie’s fair-haired boy. What are your thoughts?

***

Keepin’ it real in this here Dot.
xoxo,
Dottie

Menino fumbled and bumbled and mumbled.

Flaherty’s tone was pompous; frankly, he bored me like a frat boy who thinks he is smarter and more clever than he really is.

McCrea’s points were interesting, though he stood like the Tin Man at the podium.

Yoon was a fan of the audible pause, but boy did he come prepared. Scot Lehigh from the Globe agrees.

Last night’s mayoral debate was great fun, I thought. Jon Keller of WBZ-TV was a jumpy, but highly capable referee. No low blows from the candidates, but certainly a few bristley topics raised. It’s clear from my view, having worked for the City of Boston for 2 years, that there are too many departments, particularly the BRA, that reside in the back pocket of Mayor Menino. It’s cliched to unseat a mayor with the mantra, “It’s time for a change,” and I’m not even sure I believe it. It’s not time for *a* change. It’s time for a clearly prescribed change, change that is measurable, change to which a mayor can hold himself or herself accountable.

My faith still remains in Sam Yoon for mayor. He is passionate about our schools and personally invested in them as his son now attends the Lee Academy in Dorchester. He has a clear vision for how City Hall can become more transparent, how we can stream tax revenue toward more youth programming, and I believe he is an intrepid in all ways that we need a mayor of such a diverse city to be. I hope you’ll give Yoon a second look as you take to the polls for the primary on September 22.

Did you catch the moon last night?  It was full and high, way up in the ether.  It prompted the Dottie Hottie to venture out and see what could be seen under its glow….

These Dot days have been sultry as August tugs its rope toward the end of summer.  But the nights are what we savor, the warm breeze and recognizable pitch of kids out after dark, charged with a freedom that can only be found on a summer night.

Night Lights at the Boston Globe

Construction crews toil on after hours on Freeport Ave…

Malibu Beach walkway

Moon Over Savin Hill

There’s that moon again over the Dorchester Bay…

The Dorchester Yacht Club’s night lights have a peaceful glow against those slowly chopping waves….

The tears were starting to well up in the Dottie Hottie’s eyes this morning, listening to NPR’s coverage of this week’s ceremony changing the name of Dorchester’s Joseph O’Hearn School to the William Henderson School. The story was scored by children singing “Hero” - that Mariah Carey song that the Dottie Hottie otherwise finds irksome. But somehow the sweet voices of the children made it so appropriate.

If you haven’t heard of the remarkable school that is the O’Hearn, with the remarkable man that is its principal Henderson, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? For 20 years, Henderson has been a driving force in making the school a more inclusive, loving place, particularly for differently abled children.

The school will now honor Henderson’s work - which the Dottie Hottie would also recognize as a ministry in public schools - by changing the school’s name. As Henderson plans to retire this year, the administration, teachers, and students all have an incredibly…oh there goes the Dottie Hottie crying again…they have an incredible legacy to continue.

Here’s the Globe’s coverage for more on the Henderson School.

How did you show your Dottie pride this past Sunday?

Did you shake a politician’s hand?
Ride in a float with your Oompa band?

Parley with neighbors and pet their dogs?
Party like a rockstars, eat like hogs?

The Dottie Hottie loved every moment of the Dorchester Day Parade and was clearly not the only one who enjoyed the festivities. All the pols came out, along with dance troupes, bands, Little Miss Dorchester and her entourage, and an elder church lady was POSSIBLY making lovey eyes at DottieBiker (woohoo!). Most impressive was the DotOut float. They seemed to be having the best of times.

How did you spend Dot Day? And what makes you most proud of being a Dottie hottie?

***

Boston’s finest in front of the Dix Street Seventh-day Adventist Church

Since meandering around Dorchester Open Studios, admiring the novelties of the Pearl Street Studios galleristas and waxing poetic with the artists at First Parish Church, the Dottie Hottie has been in a HUGE post-studio FUNK! What’s a Dottie Hottie to do when the studios have shuttered, all the cheese and crackers have been put away, and the artists have gone on with their busy paint-spackled lives?

I’ll tell you what the Dottie Hottie does. The Dottie Hottie goes to see more art.

And here are just a couple of places you, too, can see it in Dot.

Did you know, for example, that Dottie artist Raine Newman believes “every day is open studio”? His studio is on Juliette St. and he gives tutorials on glass etching and makes some wicked awesome stained glass. Holler at him 617/436.3303

Also, check out Sierra and her Planet Goga wares EVEN AT THREE IN THE MORNING if you’ve got a hankering for original screenprinted art T’s for baby and you. Her etsy shop is open 24-7!

The Dottie Hottie hopes you U-30s (and you fringe members who still enjoy getting cahhhded at the bahhh - gah!) will join One in Three Dorchester on Tues. October 14th at the Ashmont Grill to eat, drink, and be neighborly.

Here are the deets vis a vi Facebook:
Host:

ONEin3 Boston

Type:

Party - Cocktail Party

Time and PlaceDate:

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Time:

6:30pm - 9:00pm

Location:

Ashmont Grill

Street:

555 Talbot Ave.

City/Town:

Dorchester, MA

6178254300

Email:

onein3dorchester@gmail.com

Description

A chance to meet your neighbors & other young people, have delicious snacks & refreshments, get to know your community better, and win great gift certificates to local restaurants & businesses.

Come spend a beautiful autumn night with us at the Ashmont Grill. Weather permitting, we will be by the festive wood stove on the patio. In the case of rain, join us inside! 

The Dottie Hottie recently heard a clever little abbreviation. “SoDo.” That’s South Dorchester to all you kool kats. A fellow Dottie was saying how much she loved Dorchester (who can blame her?) and that she likes to tell others exactly where she lives, but non-Dotties might not know where Ashmont Hill is, so she settles for SoDo.

And that got DH thinking.

It’s great to have our nuanced pride about the ‘hood, isn’t it? But how microscopic should we get in honing in on a ‘hood? I mean, this site is dedicated to the love of Dorchester, which is a neighborhood of the City of Boston. Do we do the city a disservice by allocating our energies toward only one ‘hood? The DH thinks not because the Dot is often the redheaded stepchild of neighborhoods in terms of the way it is portrayed and generally thought about by the populace. I can’t believe I just typed the word “populace.”

Perhaps we should work to be a more united Boston, but first let’s start by being a united Dorchester. We can take pride in our little Dottie pockets, but let us not forget that from Adams Village to Uphams Corner, we are better by working together, to be perfectly Mr. Rogers about it all.